Seats and associated mounting systems currently available are inadequate to withstand the forces transmitted by anti-vehicle mines and IED's. Innovations in vehicle armor are not alone sufficient to prevent severe injury to occupants of an armored vehicle.
Building upon the recent advances in armored vehicle passenger compartment design utilizing vertical floor to roof posts installed behind each seat position to improve floor and roof stiffness and prevent “oil canning”, improved design calls for the seats to be roof mounted rather than floor mounted. Occupant seats are now routinely outfitted with 5-point seat belt/shoulder harnesses to hold the occupants securely in place during a blast, collision, or rollover.
In view of the foregoing, a need exists for an improved energy absorbing apparatus and system for overcoming acceleration resulting from blast impulses in an effort to overcome the aforementioned obstacles and deficiencies of conventional systems.
It should be noted that the figures are not drawn to scale and that elements of similar structures or functions are generally represented by like reference numerals for illustrative purposes throughout the figures. It also should be noted that the figures are only intended to facilitate the description of the preferred embodiments. The figures do not illustrate every aspect of the described embodiments and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure.